Tuesday, February 7, 2017

I led a session on S.Y. Agnon's remarkable HaNidach last month, and I didn't know of a translation I could share with the group. It's a very long story - 47 pages in my edition - so I translated enough of it for the group to get a sense of the story. Since it's not available in translation anywhere, here is my partially annotated rendering for anyone who might want it. [The numbers in parentheses match the page numbers in my Hebrew edition of אלו ואלו.]

The story is heart-wrenching in its description of the depths of the divide between early Chasidim and the mainstream Jewish world, and for the elements which remain recognizable in our own world today. For easier reading, download it (.pdf) here.

Excerpts from HaNidach

Chapter 1

(9) Great snow fell all that
week, from the celestial level to the lowly world. The black earth turned
white, and the heavens remained dull, and people entered their homes, between
oven and stove,[1]
and in the city no one departed or entered.[2]
But on the fifth day to Shabbat the trait of chesed triumphed.[3]
The sun shone over the land, and the snow began to melt…

The day descended and those
who trembled at the word of Gd began gathering in the study hall. The learned
closed their books, and the youths ceased their singing. The shamash lit
the candles, and the prayers washed their hands and prayed.

They were praying, and two
elderly women broke through the door, wailing, to seek mercy for Aydele, modest
and pious. They opened the Ark and hugged the Torah scrolls and called to Gd
mightily, “Gd, please heal her,[4] on
behalf of her chicks who have not sinned.” And so they cried, until their tears
met and merged.[5]

Between minchah and maariv
news was heard in the study hall – a tzaddik had come to town.[6]
His few allies were strengthened and filled with joy, that their Rav had had
mercy on their city, to visit them on this Shabbat. They prepared their hearts
and spirits to greet his holy countenance. The uninformed thought that the Rav
had come to the city only to heal Aydele, daughter of Rabbi Avigdor the Parnas,
but those who knew the hatred of the Parnas for the sectarians knew that this
tough person would overturn the entire world to keep that tzaddik from
stepping foot in Shibush.[7]
[But] they still had some hint of a thought; Rabbi Avigdor was in pain, and it
would be a burden for him to evict [the Rabbi].

(10) When day broke, the few
Chassidim left the city to greet the tzaddik. Some of the people of
Shibush joined them, to see his entrance. They said, “If he is a tzaddik,
the entrance of tzaddikim induces awe of Heaven.” And anyone whose heart
was uncertain about belief in tzaddikim convinced himself, saying, “If
people thirst to see him, this is a sign that the Shechinah is upon him.[8]”
While they were anticipating him, the wheel of a wagon began hammering along in
the street of the city. The entire place was filled with joy; “The Rebbe has
come, the Rebbe has come!”

His intimates were
energized, and they drew close to the Merkavah.[9]
They greeted the Rav and untied the horses from their reins and took their
places to draw the Merkavah along. Immediately, the Rav descended from
the Merkavah and mixed with those who had come to greet him. They said
to him, “Rebbe, why did you descend? We have come to greet you and you descend
from the Merkavah?!” He told them, “I saw that you fulfill the mitzvah
of greeting guests with great passion, and I descended from the Merkavah
to include myself with you in this mitzvah.”…

A Jewish householder,
childless, who had never entered Chassidut, made his house available in order
to be perfumed with the blessing of that tzaddik… The people could not
separate from him, and he could not separate from them, and he was warmed by
the light of their love.

(11) At that same time, Rabbi
Avigdor left the room of his sick daughter, Aydele. He heard the voices of the
Chassidim, joyously escorting their Rebbe. He trembled and said, “How long will
this sin be stored with me?[10]”
Rabbi Avigdor cloaked himself in Shabbat clothes, scrubbed his head with water
and coiled his peiot with beer, fixed up his hat and prepared his cloak
and looked in the mirror for beauty. Why all of this? So that he would impress
the poritz, and he would listen to him…

The intimates of the tzaddik
were energized, and they took white clothing, abandoned their mundane
activities and went to the bathhouse to purify themselves for Shabbat and to
stand before their Rebbe with a clean body. And Jewish girls baked challot and
cooked meat and fish and increased various types of kugel for the pleasure of
Shabbat, with a guest like this. But the hope of Man is worms. The Satanic deed
triumphed, and the noble complied and sent an officer to chase out Rabbi Uriel
from the city, for Rabbi Avigdor had brought bad speech against him.

At that same time, Rabbi
Uriel stood cloaked in a tallit and crowned in tefillin, and his face shone
from his prayer. The officer entered and saw the illumination of his face, and
stood in confusion, waiting for him to finish his prayer. After he completed his
prayer, [the officer] said to him, “My master has decreed to remove you from
the city, please leave.” Rabbi Uriel removed his tefillin, and wrapped their
straps like the wings of a dove.[11]
He did not finish before the officer grabbed him by the hand and said, “Take
them and go.”

(12) His group of Chassidim
stood and cried Chamas! and sought revenge upon their enemies to punish
them properly, for the Heavenly Name they had disgraced and for the Shabbat
pleasure which had been destroyed. His holy heart was awakened, but he said,
“Uriel, Uriel! Are you truly concerned for the honour of His Name, or are you
concerned for your own honour? And how will you know the truth?” But nature
triumphed and he cursed the Parnas,[12]
and a harsh curse was uprooted from his mouth, that one who was banished would
be banished from him.[13]
And all who were present nodded their heads and said, “He has bitten Avigdor in
his tail like a serpent, woe to him, woe to him, so is good for him, so is
appropriate for him.”

Rabbi Uriel left the city,
and his group of Chassidim left with him. The snow was melting, and the rain
descended with force, and the land was partially smooth and partially sunken.
They hesitated and walked, hesitated and walked, reciting Song of Songs.[14]
Rabbi Uriel walked and recited, “Do not look upon me that I am dark, that the
sun has blackened me, the sons of my mother have attacked me,[15]”
and his group of Chassidim recited after him, “Behold, my beloved is pleasant,
even pretty.[16]”…

(13) The innkeeper saw them
and his blood chilled with fear; Gd forbid, there was trouble in the city and
they had fled here! He ran and brought them into his house and asked, “Why has
my friend come to my house?[17]”
They told him the entire story. The innkeeper was filled with the joy of a simpleton.[18]
This Avigdor, who would not let them make a minyan in the village – now Gd had
brought him something to anger him. Immediately, he turned to them with a happy
face and told them, “Remove all worry from your hearts, my masters. We have
meat and fish here, thank Gd, and no lack of beverage, to eat and drink
according to Gd’s word.” And he bowed before the Rav and greeted him, and
looked with shame at his own clothing and his pants of animal hide. He said, “A
tzaddik comes to my inn and I greet him with mundane clothing!” The Rav nodded
in the manner of satisfaction, but in the depths of his heart he groaned for
the children of Gd who greet the holy Shabbat in such clothing. And when the
Rav groaned, so did his Chassidim. Shabbat is a day for Gd, and they were
grieving and tossed and moved about and away from their families. And so they
groaned, until the Rav rebuked them. They repressed their groans in their
hearts, and were silent…

And the Rav led the prayers
with holy passion, and when he arrived at Lecha dodi he actually left
physicality, and he applied his two legs and
went out to dance to greet the bride. And all who were present were elevated
from level to level, until the end of the entire prayer…

(14)
And Rabbi Uriel would [normally] minimize Torah speech, for Rabbi Uriel would
say, “It is not speaking of Torah that is important, but doing and fulfilling
the words of Torah.” Now Rabbi Uriel did not repress his holy speech, and he
intentionally brought himself down to simple speech, so that even the simplest
of his intimates would understand, and he taught the weekly parshah, Parshat
Vayetze Yaakov…

After Birkat
haMazon they spread out on long benches and coloured boxes, and the host
and his wife ascended over the oven, and the house was silent… The candles were
guttering and the smoke column rose, and the Rav did not move from his place,
and he drank the smoke of the Shabbat candles. The members of the group lay
with open eyes and did not sleep in the bosom of their pleasures, and they
cloaked and crowned every statement that came from the mouth of that tzaddik,
and they taught mountains upon mountains of intentions[19] from
his every motion.

Chapter
2

(17)
There is no snow as attractive as the snow of the end of Shabbat. What is that
snow like? Like the feathers of angels’ wings. Israel is beloved, for even the
ministering angels remove their wings in their honour and spread carpets for
them from the entrance of the synagogue to the entrance of their homes when
they depart to recline at the meal of King David[20]…

And
Rabbi Uriel sat and sang songs of the end of Shabbat, and he sighed and waited
and delayed until making Havdalah, for as long as Rabbi Uriel did not make
Havdalah, the keys of Gehennom[21] were
in his hands, and out of mercy for the wicked who would be returned to Gehennom
it was hard for him to pick up the cup of Havdalah in his hand, until they
showed him the light of the next Shabbat…

(18)
And so they sat. The most holy, the Rav, Rabbi Uriel, crowned in reverence and
the light of his face like the light of the seven days.[22] To
his right Elyakim Aryeh, a Jew who knew to rejoice on Simchat Torah and cry on
Tishah b'Av. And beside Elyakim Aryeh, Leib the Silent, who prayed with force
until his teeth flew from his mouth. And beside Leib the Silent, Maharam the
Mohel, a Jew of stature. And beside Maharam the Mohel, the elder from the
village. He was the one who had brought the Torah scroll, from which they read
the weekly portion. And beside the elder from the village, Natan Nata, husband
of Chayah Sarah the storekeeper. And beside Natan Nata, husband of Chayah Sarah
the storekeeper, Yaakov Yehoshua, who was counted in the assembly of important
people. And beside Yaakov Yehoshua, Ephraim Shlomo, the great drinker. He began
to spice the Rav’s table with his jokes. Beside Ephraim Shlomo, the great
drinker, Zanvil Berish the shocheit, a Chassid who had been removed from
shechitah by the Parnas. And beside Zanvil Berish the shocheit, a Chassid who
had been removed from shechitah by the Parnas, Elimelech Meizlovitz, descendant
of Elimelech the water-drawer, about whom the Baal Shem Tov – his soul stored
in the heavens – had said, “Have you seen my friend Elimelech? When he prays,
the gates of Heaven are open.” Each day he would draw water and fill the barrels
of the needy for free, and pray at sunrise. Once he was coming from the well,
and he went to pray. It was harshly cold, and his sleeve froze and stuck to his
skin, and he could not put on tefillin. He lowered the sleeve by the handles of
the bolt until the flesh of his arm peeled, and his blood flowed, and he put on
tefillin, as it is said, “And my hands dripped myrrh upon the handles of the
bolt.[23]”…

(21)
Rabbi Uriel remembered how the entrance of Shabbat was in silence and tearful
faces, and now it departed with great noise and the light of honour. Great fear
befell him – might this light only be from the kelipah of Nogah,[24] Gd
forbid? He turned his eyes from the joy and said, “Master of the Universe, who
sees the shame of the shamed and my broken heart, give Your light and truth to
those who walk before You.” Immediately, his limbs were moved by the light of
truth. At that time Rabbi Uriel turned his mind from the expulsion, and put his
heart to the secret of the Creator’s deeds, for all that happens in this world
is at Gd’s supervision, and there is no difference between that which happens
according to His will and that which happens that is not according to His will…

(22)
Rabbi Uriel arose and looked at the world itself, and he was inflamed with an
awesome passion from the chain of worlds and the refined realms, until he was
afraid that he might cease to exist. He put his forehead upon the window glass
to chill his awesome dveikut, so that he could keep his soul in his
body.

Chapter
3

(23) On a bed of grief Aydele lay, and there was no cure for her
illness… Suddenly she saw an angel before her, his length from one end of the
world to the other, full of eyes from the sole of his feet to his skull, his
garb fire, his clothing fire, entirely of fire, with a knife in his hand and a
drop of bile suspended from it.[25]
Immediately, her face turned green and the joints of her spine popped and her
bones separated and Gd in His holy presence descended to her, as it were, and
appeared to her, and she gave Him her pure soul.

Snow
covered the ground, and the house was covered in shrouds…

(25)
[The children were reading a book of wondrous deeds of tzaddikim, including a
tzaddik bringing miraculous healing.] Rabbi Meshulam spread his two hands and
cried out from his heart, “All of the ‘ends’ have come and gone,[26] this
cannot be, this cannot be.” And he jumped up and left the house. Where did
Meshulam go? Where did he turn? Rabbi Meshulam descended to the village, to
Rabbi Uriel, to seek mercy for his wife Aydele, that she not die.

Rabbi
Avigdor knew all that had been done.[27]
Rabbi Avigdor turned his two ancient eyes down upon his only daughter as she
was expiring, and his heavy tears flowed into her tears. He strengthened his
heart with [thoughts of] the merciful Gd, of great mercy, who would have mercy
upon her and send His help from His sanctum.

At that
same time Rabbi Avigdor had a thought in his heart – perhaps they would say
that in the merit of the prayer of Uriel his daughter Aydele had been healed,
and people would then stumble because of her! Rabbi Avigdor turned his two eyes
heavenward and he said, “Master of the Universe, please take her life
immediately, lest the power of falsehood[28]
increase in the world because of her, Gd forbid.” Not even a few moments passed
before the ‘end’ of the body was completed, and her soul exited in purity[29]…

(26)
The dead are forgotten from the heart,[30] and
her son Gershom entered their hearts, sitting in the yeshiva of Torah with his
relative, the Rabbi, several parasangs away from Shibush. When they remembered
Gershom, all of them began to speak of the glory of the Talmud which his
[future] father-in-law, Rabbi Zundel had bought for him, and they spoke in
praise of its commentaries…

(28)
[From the letter Rabbi Avigdor sent to Gershom after the shivah:] But after my
return I have some comfort when I remember that your mother, of blessed memory,
when she was about two years old, her nursemaid brought her to see the Strypa
river, and for an instant she turned her attention from your mother z”l, and
your mother z”l fell into the Strypa, and she sank in mighty waters beneath the
bridge, where the water was very deep, more than the height of two men. And
when a man from the butcher shop saw, he did not remove his clothes, and he
jumped into the water and he saved her from death and he brought her to my
home. And now see the wonders of the Perfect Intellect.[31] The
deeds of Gd are great, for He wanted her to leave behind sons and daughters…

I ask
one thing of you, this I request.[32]
Although I know that you will not join with empty, reckless people, but only
with those who revere Gd, of great hearts, still, I see fit to warn you firmly
against the sect of Chassidim who are suspected of nullifying the brit [milah],
drunkards who have spread like weeds…

Chapter
4

(29) During this season the luminaries in the heavens are
muddled, and they did not finish the Shacharit prayer before the time for
Minchah arrived, as though the sun had stopped serving its duty before Gd to
benefit the creatures from its light.

In the
study hall, the oven was cooled and a damp darkness enwrapped the household
implements, and a damp, cold draft blew from the books and fluttered into a
person’s limbs and sapped the desire to learn, as though Gd forbid all love of
Torah was gone from the world.

Gershom
triumphed and studied. In the corner, between the Ark and the window on the
east side of the study hall, he sat and read and learned and immersed himself
in Torah. This even though a spirit of sorrow hovered over him every day; from
the time of his mother’s death he imagined that the heavens were with him in
his pain…

When he
remembered that she was dead he began to moan and cry, and to desire and yearn
and long for the day when he would return to his house and take her siddur and
join his voice with those of his young brothers when they stood in the
synagogue and recited Kaddish, and he would cry on the neck of his father until
his eyes wore out from tears. This is Gershom, who studied Torah and mourned
for his mother…

(30)
The youths were stretched out on their benches, and they devoured their nights
in their sleep. The entire world was deep in sleep, and the candle burned and
drew near to its end. The yahrtzeit candles were quiet in their sediment, and
the clock awoke people for midnight, and the time had arrived for Gershom to
sleep. But Gershom knew himself, that even if he would go to his dwelling and
lie on his bed, his rest would not be restful. Gd had cut his life with
suffering, and even if he would return to his dirt, his troubles would return
with him.

At that
time, Gershom began to question Gd’s justice, why He had created him…

(31)
The day was not yet lit, and the shamash called for service of the
Creator. But Gershom did not rise like a lion to the service of his Creator.[33] Not
only did he not awaken the dawn,[34] but
he did not even merit to awaken himself. The shades were sealed, and the light
of sunrise did not shine through, and the household implements made black, long
shadows, to which the imagination gave life. Gershom kept himself in bed, and
they moved along and came to the point of reaching him.

(33)
From evening to evening Gershom involved himself in Torah, and his thoughts
floated in the higher wisdoms. Most of the day, he stood on the ladder of the
book repository and read books and ascended the sansinim[35]
of wisdom. His mourning became sweeter, and Divine kindness sheltered him all
day. His heart was softened by this sensitivity he had inherited from his
mother, and he also softened it with popular aggadot which draw a
person’s heart to love of Gd. Gershom did not yet know the light of the truth
of the tzaddikim…

Chapter
5

(34)
“Do not arouse, do not awaken,” the text says, and because the yeshiva students
mentioned his betrothed to [Gershom], all sorts of affection were awakened in
his heart…

And
when Gershom arrived near his city, he found his brothers and sisters standing
by the eruv and waiting for him. They mobbed him and took his bags from
his hand, and while one embraced and hugged and kissed him,[36]
another hung on him and kissed him…

Rabbi
Avigdor asked Gershom whether he had completed a tractate, and which tractate
he had completed. He told the cook, “Give him something to eat.”…

(36) [This scene takes place at the Passover Seder at Gershom’s
future in-laws:] They poured the cups and took their Haggadot. Rabbi
Zundel had one, his wife had one, and Menuchah had one. Gershom began to fear
that they might combine him to read with his betrothed from the same book. In
truth, Rabbi Zundel had ordered a Haggadah for Gershom, but since the
craftsman had bound it close to Pesach when he bound the Talmud, they had
decided not to use it because of some bit of chametz.[37]
Rabbi Zundel stood and took an old siddur from the rafter and gave it to
Gershom, and Gershom’s mind was eased.

They
made Kiddush over wine and read the Haggadah, they drank and ate and drank and
blessed and finished. Rabbi Zundel took his pipe, and before he had put it in
his mouth, sleep caught him and he slept. And even the hostess did as her
husband, and dozed. And Gershom read and added, and since he had drunk four
cups his heart was full, and he sang in a pleasant voice. Menuchah heard and
was happy, as though a brother had been given to her and he was filling the
house with the sound of Torah. Gershom read Chad gadya, and Menuchah
answered him Chad gadya, chad gadya d’zabin Abba. And so they added and
read in Song of Songs,[38] him
a verse and her a verse, until they completed the entire book and parted from
each other.

Gershom
came to sleep in his grandfather’s room. While it was still day, they had
brought there his mother’s bed on which to sleep, so that his body would lie in
rest and pleasure. He ascended the bed, recited the first paragraph of Shema,
and covered himself in his mother’s cover. He had some childishness in him, as
though he was a baby lying beside his mother, until the Master of Dreams came
and made him sleep with verses of Song of Songs and the image of his betrothed…

(38) A
spirit of the outdoors grabbed Gershom by his cloak and drew him to tour a bit
in the city. Close to minchah, Gershom came to a street, hidden from the major
road. He saw two men standing by a house, looking for a tenth to come complete
the minyan, and he entered.

Although
Shibush was a small town and Gershom was well-known in the town, they did not
recognize him when he entered. Once they recognized him, they thought he had
been sent by the Parnas, to harm them. [But] they remembered their Rebbe’s
curse and they said, “He is a dead man, and we need not fear him. If someone
should fear, he should fear.” When they saw his depressed appearance and his
charm, they understood that it was chance that he had come here.

The
room was small, its form like a dwelling. When he entered, Gershom thought some
Jew had set up a minyan in his home. When they reached Kedushah and he
heard them say Nakdishcha,[39] he
realized he had entered the domain of “the sect”. He leapt from his place as
though bitten by a snake, but the pleasantness of the prayer enveloped his
heart, and he did not leave. The enthusiasts saw him, and they no longer said
it was chance that he had come here…

(39)
After they finished Maariv they went out to dance, and they sang
pleasantly Atah Bechartanu.[40]
Gershom stood from the table and took a book in his hand and covered his face,
lest he see Jews acting immaturely. One of the group patted his shoulder and
pointed to the dancers, saying, “How beautiful are your feet, O princess.[41]”
After only a few moments, Gershom put down his book and concentrated fully on
watching the dance. Even though he knew the dance was a dance, he contemplated
each movement, and his lips began to move with the pleasant tune, until they
finished dancing and they blessed each other Moadim l’simchah.

Gershom
left the shtiebel, and a sort of elixir of life bubbled in his limbs.
The nights of Nisan were at the height of their beauty, and a sweet smell came
from the fields close to the city, and he enjoyed the beauty. While walking he
met an old man. Gershom said, “Shalom.” The man brandished his stick and said,
“Empty one! I am about seventy years old,[42] and
I have lived near their temple all my life, and I never entered there! You,
once you arrived here your spirit rose rashly upon you and you entered their
house.”

(40) In
those days he did not read Psalms or Job, which bring rest to the soul; sadness
was even more beloved to him than a page of Talmud, Gd forbid.

Sometimes
he read Reishit Chochmah and he dampened the pages with tears, and he
saw himself dwelling in the seven levels of Gehennom, and he mentally accepted
upon himself all manner of punishment for his very existence… When he
remembered his betrothed, it was only with painful emotion, for she bound him
to this lowly world…

(42)
[While trying to sleep] Gershom could not repress his tears any longer, and he
cried bitterly from the great pain.

Rabbi
Avigdor jumped from his bed and awakened his household. Rabbi Meshulam came and
soaked a towel in vinegar and rubbed it on his son’s chest, as he had done for
Aydele of blessed memory, for they thought he had heart pain. In truth, there
was pain in Gershom’s heart, but not as his household thought…

Chapter
6

(43)
Rabbi Avigdor wanted to ease the heart of his household. Rabbi Avigdor said,
“Since my son-in-law Meshulam has entered his 36th year, I will make
a feast of thanks, for he has left the category of ‘Men of blood and trickery,
they will not live out half their lives.[43]’” He
sent the shamash and invited his relatives to a cup of blessing that
evening…

[Menuchah’s]
friends began to embrace her and hug her and kiss her. One of them held her
with her two hands and said to her, “Come, I will tell you what I heard from
Father. So I heard from Abba: All day, Regional Rabbi discussed fine points of
Torah with Gershom. You think he defeated Gershom, it is not so, Gershom
defeated him. You think he did not admit it, it is not so, he said explicitly,
‘No one ever defeated me, only this young one.’ You think he was angry, it is
not so, he was ready to give Gershom a gift. And what was it? Ordination. When?
When you and Gershom are sitting and rejoicing at your wedding.”

Menuchah
arranged a basket of fruit before her friends, to interrupt their prattle…

To
fulfill the statement of our Sages[45] that
those of refined mind in Jerusalem would not recline at a feast unless they
knew with whom they were reclining, Rabbi Avigdor opened and said, “Rabbi, the
elder official who sits to the right of his eminence is Rabbi Yaakov, son of
Rabbi Yitzchak, may Gd avenge his blood, from the grandchildren of the milkman
who would not eat meat from Shabbat to Shabbat, and from the line of the holy
Sh’lah. And the official who sits behind him is Rabbi Moshe haKohen, grandson
of the Ot Emet who is mentioned by the rabbis of the generation in their
responsa, who struck the men of the accursed sect of Shabbtai Tzvi with the rod
of his mouth. And the official who sits behind him is Rabbi Yosef Shemuel,
whose name is like that of his grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Shemuel who studied
Torah standing[46]
for 25 years, and learned the entire Talmud 42 times, fulfilling v’dibarta
bam…

(46)
The Rabbi shut his eyes and focused his thoughts and began to speak on the
matter of the day, and he presented a sharp pilpul until the faces of
those reclining there were illuminated from his Torah. When he had finished, he
said to Gershom, “Gershom, what do you respond to this?” Gershom leaned over
and repeated the Rabbi’s words in summary, including the entire pilpul
in a few words to ensure he had heard it properly, and in his words he answered
part of it and refuted part of it, and tied to it a great pilpul on the
matter of the day. The Rabbi’s face glowed, and he said, “Beautiful,
beautiful!” and he did not stop showing love. Gershom bent his head and
repeated verses which keep people from arrogance…

(47)
While they were eating, the chazan arose and gave his voice pleasantly and
blessed with the Mi sheBeirach Rabbi Meshulam, the focus of the meal,
and all of the guests answered Amen with pleasant hearts. Even the Regional
Rabbi, who rebuked chazanim for going on at length with tunes, enjoyed it and
said “Yeyasher kochacha Chazan.”

The
officials asked the Chazan where he had heard the tune. The chazan deceived the
higher mind and that of the officials, saying, “I received this from my father,
and my grandfather, the tune from Sinai.” The chazan knew that the Regional
Rabbi did not tolerate new tunes, how much more so a tune which he had heard
from a passerby, such that one might be concerned that he was from the sect…

Once
they had mentioned the sect, the Regional Rabbi said, “I will also tell you a
story: Once an avreich fled from his father-in-law’s house and went to
his Rabbi’s house. They brought him from the road, to me. I instructed to cut
off one peah and half his beard,[47] so
that people would hear and see.”…

(49)
Once Rabbi Meshulam found [Gershom] upset, and decreed that he wander about
each day. The fields surrounded the city, and he wandered in the fields or sat
in the shade of a tree and looked at the gardens and the flowing rivers.
Creation smiled upon him. The Sun decorated the entire world, the trees and
bushes stood in their beauty, and the field produced pleasant aromas. But if
you have lost faith, there is nothing that all of the gifts of Creation can
give or add.

An avreich
said to Gershom in the study hall, “Do we not say, ‘The commandments of Gd
are straight, they gladden the heart,[48]’ and
you learn with an angry face!” Gershom’s eyes streamed tears. “What can I say,
what can I tell? Gd has found my sins.[49]”
“She has fallen, she will not rise again,[50]” a
verse fell into his mouth,[51] from
a high roof to a deep pit.[52] Man
only sees with his eyes. They said, “Gershom is crushing his body with Torah,”
and they blessed themselves, “We wish that we would be like Gershom.” And the
sectarians opposite them pointed at him with their fingers and said, “The curse
of the tzaddik, the curse of a tzaddik makes a mark.” What was Gershom like?
Like silk the tailor cuts, from which he makes a beautiful garment. Had he not
cut it, he could not have made a garment from it…

(50)
[The students who followed tzaddikim] said to Gershom, “You have black bile.[53] With
our Rebbe, you could see how to serve the Creator with joy.” But Gershom sealed
his ears and did not wish to hear their words. An avreich said to Gershom,
“Gershom, I will tell you something the likes of which you have not heard. When
I was a youth, I was troubled by doubts in faith, Gd save us, until my spirit
was dark and my life was not life. Once I told myself, ‘The world says there
are tzaddikim who help people with their counsel,’ and I began to draw close to
them and I merited faith in the sages…”

Daily
they spoke to him and their words did not enter his heart. One time his heart
began to beat powerfully, and he desired and yearned to see the Rav, Rabbi
Uriel. The thirst inflamed his heart, and he cooled his heart with Torah. And
yet, the thirst reignited, like an oven. Even if he put his entire soul into
Torah, he could not extinguish the love.[54] If
he would tell his relatives, he would be disgraced with them and they would
mourn him as for the dead. If he would not tell, how could he bear it? He
turned his eyes heavenward and said, “Master of the Universe, I can depend only
upon Your mercy.” And he picked himself up and went out in secret.

The
Mitnagdim were battling the Chassidim, and they exiled the Chassidim, each from
his in-laws’ home, and they separated them from their wives. They broke their
windows and dirtied their tzitzit, and they even sent their hand against their
house of prayer. If the Chassidim stood on Friday night to pray, then
uncircumcised ones, drunk from the wine of the Mitnagdim came and extinguished
the Shabbat candles, and did not leave light in the house of prayer, or a
candle, candelabra or lantern. And when the Chassidim complained to the noble,
the noble sent his servants and they destroyed the house of prayer at night…

(51)
That day, Zusha the Butcher travelled to the village, to Zanvil Berish the
Shocheit, to slaughter an animal. On the way he found a youth lying, arms and
legs outstretched. He pushed him with a rod and called out, “Arise, why do you
sleep? Are there insufficient benches in the study hall, such that you lie down
to sleep at a fork in the road?” When this one did not rise, Zusha jumped from
the wagon and saw that it was Gershom, grandson of the Parnas, lying on the
ground as if dead. He picked him up in his arms and revived him and put him in
the wagon and returned to the city with him. Had Zusha known that Gershom had
sought to go to Rabbi Uriel, he would have carried him there himself…

In the
time of his illness Gershom read stories of wars and chronicles and Tzitzat
Noveil Tzvi about the deeds of Shabbtai Tzvi and his group. This reminded
Gershom of the Chassidim, and he remembered that he had been headed to that
Uriel, and his eyes darkened in shame. He said to himself, “Had my illness not
grabbed me on the road, I would have strayed and left the path.” He justified
the [Divine] verdict and saw his illness as a Divine kindness. He said of
himself, “To oppress you, to benefit you in the end,[55]”
that Gd had made him suffer in order to help him in the end. And from then on
he read and studied and learned pilpul as did the schismatic students,
until the Chozer[56]
arrived and brought him back to his root.

Chapter
7

(52)
[The following scene takes place on Shabbat, when a Chozer visits
Shibush, and ends up at the table of Gershom’s family:] The Chozer saw
the host sitting, his head and bulk[57] in a
book, and his son-in-law sitting opposite him, his head and bulk in a book, and
the eyes of the holy matron, the Shabbat Queen, gazing at them from the gravy,
and them not looking at her. The Chozer remembered his holy Rebbe, who
was actually greater than any man by two heads, and whose holy body was
different from on all other days, from Friday after immersing until after
Shabbat. The Chozer cried in his heart, “Master of the Universe, why
have You chased me out of the lot of Your beloved,[58] to
crush my feet in a desolate wilderness? I said I would travel from city to city
to educate properly the humble of the land,[59] to
guide them in paths of righteousness for Your Name,[60] and
I would keep myself from benefit, and I never challenged Your actions, Gd
forbid, but now sadness and worry almost fell into my heart on Your holy
Shabbat.”…

(53)
The Chozer joined in their battle of Torah. At first he wanted to show
them Torah with pleasant paths, but he realized that this was neither the place
nor the time, lest the Parnas recognize his type and expel him. He wanted to
stay here, since he had smelled the bottle of the youth[61] and
found him to be a precious vessel, ready to receive purity. He hid his deeds
and concealed his ways…

One
day, the Chozer said to Gershom, “Today we will learn a simple page of
Talmud.” Gershom was surprised; this genius who had left no great matter
[unlearned] wanted to learn a simple page of Talmud? The Chozer saw that
Gershom was surprised. The Chozer said to Gershom, “Come and see how
blind are the eyes of men. A man sees something and thinks, ‘How simple this
is,’ and in truth it contains many hints, and many matters depend on it.
Regarding them the verse says, ‘They do not look at the deed of Gd.[62]’”
And so he clarified and went in this matter, many awesome lessons. And once
Gershom’s heart was opened, and the secret of Gd hinted in the simple words was
revealed, the Chozer began to guide him from level to level on the rungs
of wisdom, until Gershom saw things that no one in Shibush had ever seen…

(55)
And [now] Gershom had already left all of the books and he did not read them;
he only remained alone in the house, sitting in the shadow of Gd and nursing
from sacred thought…

(56)
Gershom stood and stood and reviewed all that his ears had heard, and from the
great energizing of his spirit he began to cry. He leaned against the wall and
stood as long as he stood.[63] In
the end he drew out his head and said, “The time has come to accept Shabbat.”
He uprooted himself from his place and went to the study hall.

He came
to the study hall and found that most of the congregation had already gathered
for prayer and were sitting, saying Song of Songs. Some of them said it aloud,
with a tune, and some said it quietly. Gershom took a siddur and went to his
place by the bimah. He opened his siddur and put his head between his
two arms, and he stood for a brief time, until he drew out his head and began
to recite Song of Songs with terrifying passion and awesome might. He recited
and went until he reached the verse, “Draw me forth, I will run after you.[64]”
Then, when he arrived at the verse, “Draw me forth, I will run after you,” his
soul departed in purity. His lips were still moving, “The King brought me to
His chambers,[65]”
“My soul left when He spoke.[66]” So
died Gershom, grandson of Rabbi Avigdor, for Rabbi Avigdor had fought with
Rabbi Uriel, with the Chassidim he had fought.

1.Arnold
J. Band

The suspense of the story is created
by the deliberately slow pace in which Agnon works his way to the inevitable
tragic ending. Situation by situation we learn more about Gershom, begin to
understand him as a person, and consequently watch his steady progress to his
doom in sympathy and horror…. The drama of Gershom is played out on two levels.
On the metaphysical plane he is doomed because of the curse of Reb Uriel, hence
the innocent victim of an ideological clash; on the psychological plane he is
victimized by his own hypersensitivity. Both tensions, the
metaphysical-ideological and the purely psychological convulse the tranquil folkloristic
milieu resulting in the inevitable death…

Buczacz was characterized by people like R' Avraham David Ben
Asher (1770-1840). His life history and philosophy constitute a very important
chapter in Buczacz' history. We shall, however, suffice with a concise account
of his story. As a boy he already drew attention to himself by his great
Talmudic erudition and sharpness. Tsvi Hirsh, author ofNeta Sha'ashuim, chose him as a
son-in-law for his daughter. At twenty he was ready to serve as the rabbi of
Yazlovitsh. Buczacz was a town of scholars and Talmudists who did not believe
in the tsadikim and their miracles. The war between the Talmudists and the
hasidim reached its peak at that time, and it greatly troubled R' Avraham. When
his son fell ill, his wife and friends urged him to bring the sick child to R'
Levi Yitskhak of Berditshev. After refusing for a long while, he finally
consented. From that day on he was a different man. He was greatly influenced
by R' Levi Yitskhak, who helped him in reconciling his Talmudic and hasidic
views, positions that were polarized in his town. The hasidim could not imagine
a greater joy, for many of them feared his mastery of the Talmud and rabbinical
law. Nevertheless, after he inherited his father-in-law's position, everyone
marveled at his religious knowledge but opposed his way of life, his following
the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. In the practice of rabbinical law, he would
draw his judgment from the Talmud and from rabbinical authorities [poskim], and
not from the principles of the Kabbala. His wide-ranging literary work was
basically rationalistic, Talmudic and exegetic. His essayDa'at Kedoshim, as well asEshel Avraham, was incorporated
as an independent section of theShulkhan
Arukh. In addition to all of his other books, he wrote a Kabbalistic
commentary namedBirkat David[David's Blessing]. At one point in
his life his reason was somewhat shaken, and according to tradition he was
cured by the rabbi of Sasov. He acted as Buczacz' rabbi till the day he died,
approximately fifty years, and bestowed his spirit upon the town.

For we will certainly die,
and [we are] like water spilled on the ground which will not be gathered in,
and Gd will not show favour to anyone, but He plans lest anyone who is pushed
away remain pushed away.

Further, Gd does not show
favour to anyone, and He repays each person according to his deeds, and for a
person’s benefit He plans to give just desserts in this world, lest a person
who is pushed away because of his deeds be banished from Gd…

Once his grandson z”l was
lying in bed with smallpox, Gd save us, and He complained before me greatly
that he felt great pain from this. He told me then that there are Divine ways
which one cannot understand; it is found regarding the Ari z”l that he lost a
son, and he said that the reason was that he had revealed a secret to his
student, Rabbi Chaim Vital z”l. In truth, the Ari had needed to reveal it to
him, for Rabbi Chaim Vital had pushed him greatly, and this pushing had
required him to reveal it, for [the Ari] said that he had come to this world
only to repair the soul of Rabbi Chaim Vital z”l. So Heaven required him to
reveal the secret to him, and yet he was punished, as noted. This is one of the
Divine ways which one cannot understand rationally, at all. From [Rebbe
Nachman’s] words it was understood regarding himself, that all of his pain and
suffering, and the pain of his children, may they live, were all because he worked
to bring us close to Gd. Even though he was required to do this, for Gd
certainly wants this, as Gd plans lest anyone who is pushed away remain pushed
away, and yet, he suffered greatly in this way…

It once happened with the
great and holy Rabbi Avraham David of Buczacz, author of Birkat David,
that he went to the outhouse, and one of his opponents locked him in the
outhouse for about an hour. The righteous and holy sage was very upset because
of the fumes, and because he needed to narrow his holy thoughts, for he never
ceased thinking holy thoughts, cleaving to the Creator of all. And when his
household realized and opened the door for him, they said he should avenge
himself against his enemies and issue a ban against them, for the honour of
Heaven and Torah. He almost listened to their counsel, and he took a shofar to
trumpet the ban, but then the holy one said to himself, “Tell me – are you
truly and completely concerned for the honour of His Name and His Torah?
Perhaps you are concerned for your own honour – how will you know the truth?”
In a moment the holy one becamse someone else, and refrained.

On various levels, HaNidach
recalls Maaseh b’Ben haRav, one of thirteen stories of Rebbe Nachman
miBreslov’s deeds. Common to the two stories are the situation and model of a
student from an anti-Chassidic family who longs to know joy in his Torah, and
who is drawn to the tzaddik so that he will fill that which is lacking.
In both stories, the opponent is a relative of the hero… And in both stories,
the intellectual atmosphere does not meet the spiritual needs of the hero, and
strangles him spiritually…

8.Stephen
Katz, The Centrifugal Novel, pg. 52

Reflecting on the virtual
silence in Agnon’s fiction concerning Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook
(1865-1935), among the few individuals to have had a profound influence on him,
Michael Shashar appears to be expressing the attitude held by many. His
explanation, supported variously through others’ as well, is that “he was
afraid to approach Rav Kook’s grand image lest he fail in his task.” However,
as A Guest for the Night proves, the author did include, and publish, an
account of the Rav Kook in its early editions…

In what seems to be one such
example, the Guest, in his argument with the rabbi of Shibush, echoes the views
of the Rav Kook as he defends the young Zionists from the Shibush rabbi’s
accusations that, by playing soccer, they desecrate the Sabbath… During a later
confrontation, having added more to the previous statement, the Guest
concludes, “Father in heaven, if you can suffer them, we can suffer them too.”

[1] A
talmudic phrase for a small place in which one might sit while grieving (Taanit
30b)

[2] A biblical phrase used to describe the city of
Jericho when it anticipated a military assault (Joshua 6:1)

[9] This is
a kabbalistic term for the Divine throne, based on various passages in Tanach

[10]
Sanhedrin 95a; Gd asks King David how long the guilt for the massacre of Nov
will go unpunished

[11] A
reference to the tefillin of a Jew who was persecuted by the Romans for wearing
tefillin; they were transmuted into dove wings so that he could escape
detection. Shabbat 49a, based on Psalms 68:14.

[12] To truly
appreciate this scene, one must see Sefer Dorot heChadash with a similar and
yet very different story involving R’ Avraham Dovid of Buczacz. See תחנות ביצירה החסידית של עגנון pg. 82-83.